As this issue features an interview with Tufts President Tony Monaco, I would like to take this opportunity to thank President Monaco for his strong personal support of the Talloires Network and for Tufts’ continuing to serve as secretariat for the Network.

You will note a piece below by TN Executive Director Rob Hollister on his recent trip to keynote the conference on university social responsibility hosted last month by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Just a few years ago, Chinese universities, with the exception of some Hong Kong universities, were not particularly active in their civic engagement. It is truly exciting that this picture now has started to change. We welcome the growing leadership of Chinese colleagues whose institutions are taking significant initiaives in student volunteering, civic education and service learning.

I encourage Network members to take advantage of these immediate opportunities:

– Youth Economic Participation Initiative (Expressions of Interest due December 10)
– MacJannet Prize (Nominations due February 8 )
– University Volunteer Pilot Program (applications still being accepted)

December signals the sixth installment of our Leaders in the Civic Engagement Movement series. This issue features Dr. Anthony P. Monaco, Tufts University President, Professor of Biology, Professor of Neuroscience and Ex-officio member of the Talloires Network’s Steering Committee. Read More>>

Announcements

Apply for a Youth Economic Participation Initiative Demonstration Grant
Is your university preparing students for the job market in new and innovative ways? Are your service learning programs giving students the skills they need to become both engaged citizens and outstanding professional employees? Do your curricula prepare students not only to access existing jobs, but also to create their own businesses and organizations that expand economic opportunities in society?If so, we want to hear from you. Apply now for a Youth Economic Participation Initiative (YEPI) Demonstration Grant or send us an email to learn about other ways to get involved in the Youth Economic Participation Initiative.Visit our website for more information and to download an application. As always, we invite you to email us at yepi@tufts.edu with any questions or just to say hello! Expressions of Interest are due December 10, 2012.

2013 Talloires Network University Volunteer Program
The Talloires Network and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid are still accepting applications for the 2013 Talloires Network University Volunteer Pilot Program. For the pilot year, twenty volunteers will be selected to work on six-month long assignments that will begin as early as March 2013. Special emphasis will be given to South-South exchange in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Learn More>> or Download the Application Form>>, in English and Spanish.

The nomination form for the 2013 MacJannet Prize is now available. Nominations will be due on February 8, 2013. Visit the MacJannet section of our website to download an application form, see the timeline for the 2013 nomination and selection process and view the profiles of previous winners.

November 13-14, 2012, over 200 representatives of universities in Hong Kong, Mainland China and other countries met at Hong Kong Polytechnic University to exchange about current practices and future directions for university social responsibility as part of the “Summit on University Social Responsibility” sponsored by PolyU and the China Institute of Education Policy. Read More>>

New Talloires Network Staff

The Talloires Network Secretariat is pleased to welcome two new staff members to the Youth Economic Participation Initiative (YEPI) Team: Rantimi Oluwasegun who joined in October as Budget and Program Coordinator and Amy Newcomb Rowe who joined in November as Program Manager.

IMPACT is now accepting workshop proposals for the 2013 IMPACT Conference to be hosted by the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico from February 21 to February 24, 2013. Proposals will be accepted until December 10, 2012. Learn More>>

Engagement Australia has announced the call for good practices for the 2013 Next Steps Conference: Co-producing Knowledge for Social Impact. The conference will be held from July 15 to July 17, 2013 at the Australian Catholic University Fitzroy Campus, Melbourne. The deadline for submitting conference proposals is February 11, 2013. Learn More>>

Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP)is now accepting proposals on a quarterly basis for Seminar Grants and Program Development Grants “that will promote engaged learning, civic development and engagement, and psychosocial well-being of college and university students.” Learn More>>

CLAYSS Service-Learning Program

CLAYSS, the Latin American Center for Service Learning, has launched the 2013 Support for Social Engagement and Service-learning in Higher Education in Latin America Program. Learn More in English or Spanish>>

Saran Gill, Executive Director of Asia Engage and Deputy Vice Chancellor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has been named one of Engagement Australia’s visiting scholars for 2013. Learn More>>

OECD, CIHE Partnership
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) partnered with the Boston College Center for International Higher Education (CIHE) to hold an international working conference as part of the OECD’s Innovation, Higher Education and Research for Development program, which brought together 40 participants from all over the world. Learn more>>

Moves to Measure the ‘Impact’ of Research on Society
This article, written by Jane Tinkler for University World News examines the implications of the UK’s “introduction of a measurement of the effects, or ‘impact’, of academic research on wider society in the upcoming Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment exercise.” Learn More>>

UNESCO has released an EFA Global Monitoring Report entitled Youth and Skills: Putting Education to Work. The report studies the deficit in youth skills globally and what is being, and can be, done to improve the situation. Read more>>

Julia Preece, Michael Osborne, Oitshepile MmaB Modise and Peggy Gabo Ntseane are the editors of this recently published book which “provides a historical and contemporary context for universities in Anglophone-speaking Africa, presenting the socio-economic realities of different national contexts which frame the variety of debates about community engagement on the continent” Learn More>>

This is the third annual national conference of the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). This interactive conference will look across the whole engagement agenda including research; teaching and learning; knowledge exchange; volunteering and social responsibility. Learn more>>

The conference will be held by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and the IT-Academic Core Processes and Systems (IT-ACPS) at the American University of Beirut. The Conference will incorporate formal research-oriented sessions, pre-conference workshops and prominent speakers, including six strands: Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Higher Education, Measuring Teaching Effectiveness, Blended Learning, Innovations in Teaching Technologies and Methodologies, Program and Course Learning Outcomes and Service Learning. Learn More >>